After Arkansas beat Indiana Saturday night, the Hoosiers' star freshman, Eric Gordon, was asked if he'll be back for his sophomore year. His answer, from Viv Bernstein of the New York Times' The Quad blog:"Indiana's a great university and I don't know,'' said Gordon, who had a dismal game, shooting 3 of 15 from the floor, including 0 of 6 from 3-point range, and closed with eight points. "This is a great team that I play for and I've just got to see what happens.''
Gordon may not know, but I do: He's done with college basketball. He has the talent to play in the NBA next year, he probably wouldn't have gone to college at all if it weren't for the NBA's minimum age rule, and it would be foolish for anyone who can leave to stay on the sinking ship that is the Indiana basketball program.
Thanks to the mess made by ex-coach Kelvin Sampson, Indiana will face NCAA sanctions next year and will, in all likelihood, not be permitted to play in the NCAA Tournament. Why on earth would a player with Gordon's talent want to play in those circumstances?
Gordon's legacy at Indiana has been described as mixed, but I'd have to say it's disappointing. No banners will hang in Assembly Hall from the one-year Gordon Era, not for a Big Ten title or a Big Ten Tournament title or a Final Four; the Hoosiers weren't even close to any of those accomplishments. For what Sampson went through to get Gordon on campus, his college career is not much of an accomplishment.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. One can blame Sampson...but are we forgetting the real issue? Myles Brand in his arrogant style is making sure IU never has a basketball program again. He can't get over basketball and Bobby Knight being more important than him back when we had a genuine program. I truly believe he was behind the timing of the report on Sampson. Isn't it strange that Greespan still gets a paycheck..and he's the one that hired Sampson..knowing there were issues? Again..Mr Brand and one of his past associates. I've been a loyal IU fan for many many years..but Mr Brand...you've succeeded...I've given up..I'm done with IU basketball
Posted at 10:33AM on Mar 22nd 2008 by D Blank
2. Eric Gordon is horrible! He costs the Hoosiers plenty of victories. As for a pro career.....no way!
Posted at 11:46AM on Mar 22nd 2008 by patty46526
3. I guess it is very bad for a freshman to lead the Big Ten league in scoring and becoming first team all Big Ten. The man was a freshman. I sorry he didn't live up to YOUR expectations.
Posted at 12:00PM on Mar 22nd 2008 by LB
4. I wouldn't believe any answer he gave - at least for a while. I hope an Illinois pro team doesn't get him.
College coaches seem to have figured out how to stop him. His scoring of late has been way down. When he starts to drive for the basket don't nibble on fake passes. He usually hangs on to the ball. Guard him up tight and close no breathing room.
The story is out...
Posted at 12:28PM on Mar 22nd 2008 by Ronald
5. It's really hard to place any of the blame for this season on Gordon. Once those Sampson allegations came out the team went right into the tank. He had a great year and if they still had a coach then they'd still be dancing.
Posted at 12:34PM on Mar 22nd 2008 by Dr Huxtable
6. I think he should give it one more year at least in college. Yea, he may have led the Big Ten in scoring etc, but the kid has struggled down the stretch of the season when his team needed him. Indiana was lucky to get an at large bid into the tourney considering how poor they played in their last 5 or 6 games, which Gordon was definitely part responsible for.
Posted at 1:55PM on Mar 22nd 2008 by JKlicious99
7. Keep Dakich? That would be just enough for me to give up on them. McCallum should have been given the Interim title in the first place. It's time to look outside of "those with ties to IU", since none of them have really proven themselves as great coaches. And before somebody says the inevitable, Steve Alford has NOT done anything to stand out as a Division I coach. Bring in Bruce Pearl, Tony Bennett, or Sean Miller. We need a proven leader and winner with a clean record, not only to rebuild the program, but to stop the bleeding of losing blue chip recruits and current players to transfer. Just my two cents.
Posted at 12:23AM on Mar 23rd 2008 by JW
8. IF GORDON GOES TO PRO - HE WOULD NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO AS HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO IN THE TOURNEY. COACH SAMPSON TOLD COACH DAKICH TO TAKE CARE OF GORDON AND HELP GORDON TO BECOME A BETTER PLAYER WHICH IS WHAT DAKICH DID TILL COACH SAMPSON WRECK EVERYTHING. I THINK IU SHOULD GIVE DAKICH ONE MORE YEAR AND IM SURE GORDON WILL STAY ONE MORE YEAR AND IU WILL BE A BETTER TEAM NEXT YEAR IF DAKICH AND GORDON STAYS.
Posted at 12:47PM on Mar 23rd 2008 by CARLA
9. KEEP COACH DAKICH FOR ONE MORE YEAR. IF NOT KEEP DAKICH - I WILL NOT GO TO ANY MORE IU GAMES NEXT YEAR. I PROMISE U THAT.
Posted at 8:53PM on Mar 23rd 2008 by CARLA
10. We need a top, proven coach...NOT Dan...Sorry
Posted at 9:31PM on Mar 23rd 2008 by A Realist
11. GO PURDUE THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY, GENE MAY BE AVAILABLE
Posted at 10:56PM on Mar 23rd 2008 by S BANET
12. He will go pro and he won't be very good. He might be playing in Europe in a couple of years.
Posted at 7:40PM on Mar 24th 2008 by hoosierfan
13. I suppose if one could find out Eric's GPA it might be a pretty good indicator as to whether or not he'd be academically eligible to return.
...or I suppose you could take him on campus and see if he actually recognizes any of the buildings outside of the gym.
Posted at 8:36AM on Mar 25th 2008 by Don
14. IU will be allowed to play in the tourney next year. They're not going to ban a team for a few extra phone calls, especially after they fire the coach. That would be absolutely ridiculous
Posted at 10:26PM on Mar 25th 2008 by Eric
15. Making too many phone calls does not even begin to rise to the level of issuing cars and money. You are wishfully thinking IU will get probation. They have had no major violations in the 47 years prior. The university reported it and got rid of Sampson.Too many phone calls. What about the issue of the content of the calls? What about the issue of , did it give Sampson a recruiting advantage? I understand many calls were to recruits he already had commitments from. You are placing form, over substance. Of course its easy to not like a shool with 5 titles, the last team to go undefeated and the UPI National title in 1975 the year Scotty broke his arm. You are hoping for probation-will not happen. Finally, IU has to the upmost, cooperated. IU has an investigation to do as well.
Posted at 2:46PM on Mar 26th 2008 by fred medaris